Sharif Digital Repository

There is still an open question of how to prepare high-performance counter electrodes for dye solar cells (DSCs) at room temperature; a requirement for flexible DSCs. Here, we introduce Pt deposited cube-like chromium coating as a low-temperature highly-efficient counter electrode for DSCs. Cr is a chemically stable metal and can be easily electroplated on conductive substrates with high roughness (here ∼160 nm) and cube-like appearance. A cyclic electrochemical deposition method with optimized temperature and number of cycles is used to grow Pt nanoparticles on this surface and charge transfer resistance as low as 0.54 Ω cm2 and 0.27 Ω cm2 were obtained at 40 °C and 55 °C solution... 

For the first time, a new platform based on electrochemical growth of Au nanoparticles on aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (A-MWCNT) was developed for sensitive lable-free DNA detection of the TP53 gene mutation, one of the most popular genes in cancer research. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to monitor the sequence-specific DNA hybridization events related to TP53 gene. Compared to the bare Ta or MWCNT/Ta electrodes, the synergistic interactions of vertically aligned MWCNT array and gold nanoparticles at modified electrode could improve the density of the probe DNA attachment and resulting the sensitivity of the DNA sensor greatly. Using EIS, over the extended... 

Absorption and fluorescence spectra of three Sudan dyes (Sudan III, SudanIV and Sudan black B) were recorded in various solvents with different polarity in the range of 300-800 nm, at room temperature. The solvatochromic method was used to investigate dipole moments of these dyes in ground and excited states, in different media. The solvatochromic behavior of these substances and their solvent-solute interactions were analyzed via solvent polarity parameters. Obtained results express the effects of solvation on tautomerism and molecular configuration (geometry) of Sudan dyes in solvent media with different polarity. Furthermore, analyze of solvent-solute interactions and value of ground and... 

PbS nanoparticles were in situ deposited on graphene sheets by a successive ionic liquid adsorption and reaction method to prepare a graphene/PbS composite counter electrode for CdS/CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). Under 1 sun illumination, the cells with graphene/PbS counter electrodes (CEs) show a maximum energy conversion efficiency of 2.63%, which is remarkably higher than that of those employing PbS (1.28%) or graphene (0.23%) CEs. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis shows that graphene/PbS composite counter electrodes have lower charge-transfer resistance at the interface of the CE and the polysulfide redox electrolyte, compared to those cells with PbS and... 

NiO-ZnO/TiO2NTs electrodes were synthesized by the electrodeposition of Zn-Ni onto TiO2 nanotubes, dealloying in a concentrated alkaline solution and finally calcination of the resulting Zn(OH)2-Ni(OH)2/TiO2NTs at 300 C. Morphology of the electrodeposited nanostructures was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) while their electrochemical characterizations were carried out using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and galvanostatic charge/discharge procedures. The SEM analysis revealed the nanoporous/cracked structures of the NiO-ZnO/TiO2NTs obtained at the electroplating time of 20 min. The EIS studies showed that nanoporous/cracked structures of... 

Polyaniline fiber (PANI) was synthesized by chemical interfacial method and doped with para toluene sulfonic acid (PTSA) through a sequential doping-dedoping-redoping process resulting in PANI-PTSA. The doped material was utilized to fabricate Vulcan-polyaniline composite of C-PANI-PTSA. Next, through reduction, Pt particles were deposited on to this composite to produce a Pt/C-PANI-PTSA electrocatalyst. To investigate the PANI-PTSA interaction with the carbon support as well as, to consider its effect upon the catalytic activity of Pt/C-PANI-PTSA, electrocatalysts with different ratios of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 wt% were synthesized and their activity was compared with the Pt/C (Electrochem).... 

Interactions of α-D-glucose with gold, silver, and copper metal clusters are studied theoretically at the density functional theory (CAM-B3LYP) and MP2 levels of theory, using trimer clusters as simple catalytic models for metal particles as well as investigating the effect of cluster charge by studying the interactions of cationic and anionic gold clusters with glucose. The bonding between α-D-glucose and metal clusters occurs by two major bonding factors; the anchoring of M atoms (M = Cu, Ag, and Au) to the O atoms, and the unconventional M.H-O hydrogen bond. Depending on the charge of metal clusters, each of these bonds contributes significantly to the complexation. Binding energy... 

The photoanodes of solid state dye sensitized solar cells (ss-DSCs) embedded with different contents of TiO 2 hollow spheres (HSs) were prepared and the photovoltaic performances were systematically characterized. TiO 2 hollow spheres were synthesized by a facile sacrificial templating method, grounded and added in different ratios to TiO 2 nanoparticle (NP) paste, from which composite HS/NP electrodes were fabricated. The composite photoanodes include hollow spheres of 300-700 nm with enhanced light scattering characteristics in visible range which leads to improved light absorption in conventional thin film electrodes of ss-DSC. By optimizing the amount of HSs in the paste, 40% improvement... 

PANI/Pd/TiO2NTs electrodes with highly porous structures and good capacitive characteristics were prepared by electrodeposition of polyaniline on palladium nanoparticles loaded TiO2 nanotubes. The loading of small palladium nanoparticles was carried out by sonochemical reduction of Pd+2 onto TiO2NTs and affected the ordered growth of PANI, reducing the charge transfer resistance and increasing surface area of PANI. The specific capacitance and the stability of electrode showed improvements. The results illustrated that the specific capacitance of these electrodes was around 1060 F g-1 in 1.0 M H2SO4 electrolyte as measured at a constant current of 2.0 A g-1, whereas it was 210 F g-1 for the... 

By combination of 1-ethyl-3-methyl immidazolium ethyl sulfate as a typical room temperature ionic liquid (IL) and graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, a nanocomposite was introduced for improving the direct electrochemistry and electrocatalytic activity of glucose oxidase (GOx). The enzyme on the IL-GO-modified glassy carbon electrode exhibited a quasireversible cyclic voltammogram corresponding to the flavine adenine dinucleotide/FADH2 redox prosthetic group of GOx. At the scan rate of 100 mV s-1, the enzyme showed a peak-to-peak potential separation of 82 mV and the formal potential of -463 mV (vs Ag/AgCl in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution, pH 7.0). The kinetic parameters of the charge transfer... 

In this work, we used λ-DNA to produce metallic DNA samples and we investigated the stabilization time of their impedances. This is in order to show that the DNA molecules can possibly be utilized as a frame for assembling the nanocircuits and as an electronic element as well, in nanoelectric devices. It has been shown that metallic DNA has lower stabilization time than natural DNA. As expected, it is shown that making the bundled DNA oriented, impacts their impedance stabilization. In order to find the characteristic impedance of the DNA molecules under direct current, we designed and made patterned electrodes to make electrical connections between the DNAs and the used current source. The... 

Ni/SiC nanocomposite coatings were electrodeposited using Watts type bath and different SiC particle size. The electrodeposition behavior of Ni/SiC nanoelectrocomposites was studied using electrochemical techniques such as impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and voltammetry. In this study it was shown that SiC particles modify the EIS diagram and voltammograms as well as surface morphology of electrodeposited layers. Experimental results showed that SiC particles not only affect the formation of intermediate species and decrease charge transfer resistance but also increase the nucleation sites for nickel electrodeposition and thus affect the microstructure of electrodeposited Ni/SiC nanocomposites.... 

The optimized minimum-energy geometries of different macrocyclic amines and their protonated structures were determined by using ab initio and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. All the gas phase optimizations and energy calculations were performed at the DFT/B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. The HF/6-31 + G(d,p) level was used for all single point calculations in the solution phase. Geometry optimizations indicate that the most stable structures are stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonds. The proton affinity (PA) of macrocyclic amines is controlled by the strength of intramolecular hydrogen bonds of macrocyclic amines. These hydrogen bonds strongly influence the basicity... 

Nickel modified graphite electrodes (G/Ni) prepared by galvanostatic deposition were examined for their redox process and electrocatalytic activities towards the oxidation of methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and 2-propanol in alkaline solutions. The methods of cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed. In CV studies, the electrochemical response, peak current varied in the order of MeOH > EtOH > 1-PrOH > 2-PrOH. Under the CA regime, a higher catalytic rate constant obtained for methanol oxidation was in agreement with CV measurements. Lower charge transfer resistance was obtained for low carbon alcohols oxidation and significantly higher... 

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was successfully immobilized on amine functionalized TiO 2-coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (NH 2-TiO 2-CNTs) by a convenient and efficient method. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and amperometry were applied to characterize the HRP/NH 2-TiO 2-CNT nano-composite. These techniques showed that the NH 2-TiO 2-CNTs greatly enhance the electron transfer between HRP and the modified electrode. Owing to the redox reaction of the electroactive centre of HRP, the HRP/NH 2-TiO 2-CNTs modified electrode exhibited a pair of quasi-reversible peaks with a peak-to-peak separation (ΔE p) of 70.6mV and a formal potential (E 0′) of -367.65mV (versus... 

Binding of Mg 2+, Ca 2+, Zn 2+, and Cu + metal ions with 2′-deoxythymidine (dT) nucleoside was studied using a density functional theory method and a 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. This work demonstrated that the interaction of dT with these cations is tri-coordinated · (O2, O4′, O5′). Among the four types of cations, Zn 2+ cation exhibited the most tendency to interact with the dT. Cations via their interaction with dT can affect the N-glycosidic bond length, the values of pseudorotation of the sugar ring, the orientation of the base unit with respect to the sugar ring, and the acidity of the O5′H, O3′H, and N3H groups in the dT nucleoside. Natural bond orbital analysis was performed to calculate... 

TiO2 thin films containing different concentrations of Ag nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol-gel method. According to UV-visible spectra, presence of an intense surface plasmon resonance peak at 490 nm of wavelength indicated formation of silver nanoparticles in the TiO2 films. Based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis, the surface roughness and the effective surface ratio increased by increasing the Ag mol%. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed formation of Ag nanoparticles on the surface for the samples containing high Ag concentration. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns revealed that the size of Ag nanocrystals increased by increasing the Ag content in... 

The binding of Mg 2+, Ca 2+, Zn 2+ and Cu + metal cations to 2′-deoxyguanosine has been analyzed, using the hybrid B3LYP, Density Functional Theory (DFT) method and 6311++G(d,p) orbital basis sets. Coordination geometries, absolute metal ion affinities, and free energies for the most stable complexes formed by Mg 2+, Ca 2+, Zn 2+ and Cu + with the nucleoside, 2′-deoxyguanosine, have been determined. Furthermore, the influences of metal cationization on the strength of the N-glycosidic bond, torsion angles and angle of Pseudorotation (P) have been studied. With respect to the results, it has been found that metal binding significantly changes the values of the phase angle of Pseudorotation... 

Two types of unfunctionalized and functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were prepared to be applied in fabrication of MWCNT-ZnO nanocomposite thin films with various MWCNT contents. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated formation of functional groups on surface of the functionalized MWCNTs in the MWCNT-ZnO nanocomposite. Formation of the effective carbonaceous bonds between the ZnO and the MWCNTs was also investigated through photoinactivation of Escherichia coli bacteria on surface of the both unfunctionalized and functionalized MWCNT-ZnO nanocomposites. The functionalized MWCNT-ZnO nanocomposites showed significantly stronger photoinactivation of the bacteria than the... 

WO3 thin films were fabricated by sol-gel method using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as dispersing agent. Physical and photoelectrochemical properties of the synthesized nanocrystalline films were studied by varying weight ratio of PEG to tungsten precursor (x). Based on AFM observations and statistical modeling of the WO3 surface, the thickness of the films increased by increasing the amount of x with a nearly linear fashion while the surface roughness reached to a saturated value. However, the film synthesized with x = 4 showed a chaotic surface behavior. Optical analysis revealed that by increasing the x, transmittance of the films decreased while their band gap energies remained unchanged....